With herb field workers disappearing one after another, one thing was already all but certain: demons had indeed infiltrated the area.
The Patrol Team had also received the news and dispatched more people to search for the Demons and Ghosts.
Before long, news came in that the Patrol Team had discovered and slain a Rat Demon in the herb field.
Hearing this, Qin Dongcheng and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could focus on cultivation and managing the herb field.
That night, Qin Dongcheng once again went to the clearing outside the Bamboo House and unleashed the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist with all his might, constantly improving his cultivation.
He soon became completely immersed in it, losing all awareness of his surroundings.
It was only when the sound of something cutting through the air reached him that Qin Dongcheng came back to his senses in a daze.
Mount Tai Pressing Down!
At this life-or-death moment, Qin Dongcheng pushed the techniques of the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist to their utmost. In an instant, he struck first despite moving second, meeting the black shadow as it pounced at him.
The shadow was over a meter long, with long white whiskers. At a glance, it looked just like a little old man. It was none other than one of the most numerous Demons and Ghosts in Luo Cloud Prefecture: the Rat Demon.
This Rat Demon was only level one, yet it was comparable to a Late Body Phase Martial Artist. On top of that, it was incredibly fast and its fur provided strong defense. Most Martial Artists in the Body Phase Realm were no match for it.
Thud...
But against Qin Dongcheng, whose Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist had reached Major Achievement and whose cultivation had reached Body Phase Perfection, it was still no match.
His fist slammed into the Rat Demon's head, crushing it outright. It didn't even get a chance to scream before it dropped dead on the spot.
Fortunately, Qin Dongcheng had reacted in time. If he had been even a little slower, the Rat Demon would have pounced on him. Even if he survived, he would have suffered grievous injuries.
"You performed the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist once. Congratulations, you triggered an eight-hundredfold critical hit and received eight hundred times the gains!"
Between life and death lay great terror, but there were also great opportunities.
What Qin Dongcheng hadn't expected was that this would trigger an eight-hundredfold critical hit. His gains had already been astonishing, and with the eight-hundredfold bonus on top, it was easy to imagine just how incredible they were.
Even years of bitter cultivation might not have yielded as much as this one experience.
His Blood Qi surged wildly, and his physical attributes soared. In just a few minutes, he had reached Body Phase Perfection.
As his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, the Mount Tai Body Strengthening Fist also broke through from Major Achievement to Perfection. Perhaps because his gains this time were so astonishing, they had even triggered a special state.
Faint layers of Blood Qi rose from Qin Dongcheng's skin, encircling his entire body and radiating terrifying might.
Looking closely, the Blood Qi had taken the shape of a dragon and a tiger, swirling within and around his body and driving his physical attributes to soar once more.
Body Strengthening Phenomenon!
Dragon Vigor Tiger Might!
His gains from the brush with death were greater than he had imagined, and that was before counting the tremendous benefits of the eight-hundredfold critical hit.
Under the effect of this Strange Phenomenon, Qin Dongcheng's stamina increased tenfold, while his strength doubled. Such a terrifying boost far surpassed that of ordinary Strange Phenomena.
If his guess was right, this Strange Phenomenon ranked among the very best of all Body Strengthening Phenomena. It could be called a top-tier Strange Phenomenon.
Strange Phenomena were divided into different tiers: low, middle, high, and top. The highest tier was the top tier.
Dragon Vigor Tiger Might increased Qin Dongcheng's stamina tenfold and doubled his strength outright, so it certainly deserved to be called a top-tier Strange Phenomenon of the Body Phase Realm.
Before, he could only fight continuously for about half an hour. With Dragon Vigor Tiger Might, he could keep fighting for several hours.
His strength had also surged from a little over nine hundred kilograms to more than eighteen hundred.
His combat experience and techniques had reached an astonishing level as well. With all these advantages combined, even among Skin Phase Martial Artists, few could match him.
He could even hold his own against ordinary Flesh Phase Martial Artists.
But these weren't the only gains he received this time.
After his cultivation reached Body Phase Perfection and he awakened a top-tier Body Strengthening Phenomenon, the critical hit rewards still hadn't ended. They continued pouring in without pause.
He had no time to think. His Blood Qi had reached a boiling point and was rapidly seeping into every part of his body.
The cultivation method for the Diamond Skin Refining Fist surfaced in Qin Dongcheng's mind. He guided this Blood Qi into his skin.
As though everything had fallen naturally into place, the Blood Qi seeped into patches of skin with almost no resistance, continually tempering and strengthening them.
This meant Qin Dongcheng's cultivation had surpassed the bounds of the Body Phase Realm and entered a new level.
Skin Phase Realm!
His physical capacity surged again. Threads of Blood Qi seeped into his skin, tempering and strengthening it.
Blood Qi like silken threads seeped into the skin!
This was the sign of entering the Skin Phase Realm. Every casual movement now carried more than a thousand kilograms of force. Once he activated the Dragon Vigor Tiger Might Strange Phenomenon, his strength could double to more than two thousand kilograms.
An ordinary Flesh Phase Martial Artist could only muster a little over two thousand kilograms of force in a punch. Qin Dongcheng had only just entered the Skin Phase Realm, yet he already possessed more than two thousand kilograms of strength.
Moreover, his stamina and endurance were ten times those of Martial Artists at the same level. In a battle of attrition, even Flesh Phase Martial Artists wouldn't be able to beat him.
One Blood-Replenishing Pill after another went down, and he also chewed through several stalks of ginseng that were over ten years old. This improvement was truly enormous, boosting Qin Dongcheng's overall strength several times over.
He had also broken through the bottleneck and advanced to the Skin Phase Realm, the second realm of martial cultivation.
Martial Artists of this level would qualify as second-rate experts if they ventured into the martial world. They could easily lord it over a village or town and live as wealthy gentlemen.
To put it in perspective, they were like millionaires in the villages and towns of his previous life. They might not be wealthy enough to be financially free, but they could still enjoy a very comfortable life.
Among the many herb field workers, they were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. Even among the stewards, few had cultivated to the Skin Phase Realm.
By the time he had received all the critical hit rewards, Qin Dongcheng's cultivation had stabilized in the Skin Phase Realm and advanced another step, bringing him much closer to the middle stage.
When it came to combat experience and techniques, few could match him—not only in the Skin Phase Realm, but even in the Flesh Phase Realm.
Eight hundred times the gains meant Qin Dongcheng had experienced eight hundred life-or-death battles. One could only imagine how much his combat experience and techniques had improved.
Among the first few realms of martial cultivation, how many people could survive eight hundred life-or-death battles? Most were lucky to come through a handful alive.
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